Articles about Retirement Boards that may be useful to Massachusetts retirees.
LEOMINSTER -- A statewide association representing retired municipal employees is criticizing the city's Retirement Board for voting in July not to give retirees a cost-of-living pay increase in their pensions for the fifth straight year.
Mayor Mazzarella Controlled Board Manipulates Funding Schedule and Treats Retirees as Second Rate
SEPTEMBER 2014 VOICE: By any fair measure, five years is a considerable amount of time. It’s half a decade, longer than a presidential or gubernatorial term in office and exceeds the time spent in high school or college. For Leominster’s retirees and survivors five years may only be the beginning of their wait for a modest and much needed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).
3% For Most Retirees & Survivors
JULY 18, 2014: With the approval of a 3% COLA for state and teacher retirees contained in the FY15 budget signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick on July 11, members can be assured of receiving a new COLA payment in their July pension check. The state has maintained the COLA base at $13,000, thus setting the maximum annual COLA at $390. Eligible retirees for the 2014 COLA are those having retired prior to July 1, 2013.
Let's Deal With The Facts, Not An Agenda
July 2014 Voice: We’ve all seen the steady stream of headlines and heard the sound bites declaring public pension systems a disaster, unsustainable or a failure. To the average citizen these are examples of bloated entitlement programs run amuck. For public retirees, these reports portray a nightmare scenario in which their retirement security is in jeopardy.
Insurance Moratorium Pending
JUNE 6, 2014: Following the passage of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget in both the House and Senate, legislative conferees are now negotiating a final unified state budget that will likely receive final approval in late June or early July.
Finally Recovered From FY08 Losses
MARCH 2014 VOICE: Year 2013 was cause for a modest celebration at the Commonwealth’s giant Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) Board, chaired by State Treasurer Steve Grossman.
A strong market year saw PRIM’s Pension Reserves Investment Trust (PRIT) Fund earn 15.2%, and finally climb back and exceed its pre-Year 2008 value with a new high of $57.9 billion at year’s end.
Adopts Conservative Approach & Increased Funding
MARCH 2014 VOICE: Governor Deval Patrick and the state’s Legislative Leadership have agreed to significantly increase the appropriation toward funding the Commonwealth’s unfunded pension liabilities, along with shortening the pension funding schedule by four years and adopting a more conservative set of assumptions.
MARCH 2014 VOICE: Former Association President Ralph White was elected to a new three-year term on the State Retirement Board effective this January. This will be his sixth three-year term.
Unlike his 2001 election when he was unopposed, White had three opponents in this latest election. They were Thomas Mullage, a contract manager at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital; Christine Turner, A UMass Amherst Librarian and executive board member of the MTA Society of Professors; and Randy Azzato, a former director with the Department of Correction.
New York Times
April 16, 2014
Detroit’s pension boards and a retirees’ group say they have reached tentative agreements with the city that could serve as a breakthrough in its quest to settle with its major creditors and propel itself out of bankruptcy before the end of the year.
Since 1968 the Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association has been the leading voice for Massachusetts public retirees and their families. Join with our 62,000 members as we continue the fight.
